I Think We Missed Our Turn - L.A. Witt Page 0,3

my laptop. You want me to make reservations?”

Oh God. We were really doing this, weren’t we?

“Sure. Yeah.” I gulped. “Let me get some more specifics from Dad, and then we can sit down and plan it out.”

He smiled again. Then he disappeared into the back. I turned away from the Employees Only door and tried to remember what I was supposed to be doing with these boxes I’d brought in.

But all I could think was that Tanya was going to be pissed.

Well, more pissed.

I closed my eyes and sighed.

Yeah, tonight was going to be fun…

Chapter 2

Marques

A road trip. To Maine. With Armin Jahani.

Oh dear Lord.

Alone in my office, I indulged in a sigh of frustration. It wasn’t that I disliked Armin. In fact, it was the opposite. I liked him a lot. What could I say? When I’d first come to work for the gallery, all it had taken was one look at my boss’s youngest son for me to start tripping over my own feet. All three of Omar’s sons were gorgeous, but Armin? Holy shit. He was Persian on his dad’s side, Turkish on his mom’s, with olive skin and short, jet black hair. He also had the audacity to walk around in suits looking like someone who belonged in a magazine, totally oblivious to how many heads turned and jaws dropped when he strolled by. Plus he had the sexiest brown eyes I’d ever seen. When he smiled? Or even better, when he got a mischievous grin? Oh my God, those eyes just wrecked me every time.

And I was supposed to be alone with him for, like, a week? However long it took to get to Maine and back with that collection of Neelan pieces? Jesus. I was probably as excited as Omar about that acquisition. And meeting Zoe? Oh Lord. But I was too wound up over traveling with Armin to really let that excitement sink in.

I rubbed my eyes with my thumb and forefinger. I hoped he didn’t get offended if I wanted us to room separately. I could tell him I snored louder than the fighter jets that flew over Virginia Beach on the regular. Maybe that I was a light sleeper? Something.

On the bright side, hitting the road with my boss’s incredibly fuckable son would get me out of my apartment for a while. A week with Armin might test my ability to concentrate on the road, but it wouldn’t be nearly as awkward as going home every night to help my as-of-recently-ex-boyfriend move his ass out of my apartment.

I lowered my hands and stared blankly at my computer screen. Maybe this wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all. Armin was my friend, and the same could not be said for the man who was taking his sweet time clearing out.

Yeah. I’d focus on that. I wasn’t stuck with the man I couldn’t have. I was escaping the man I didn’t want.

Smiling to myself, I exhaled. Okay. That put things in a very different perspective.

For that matter, Armin wasn’t just attractive. He was a good friend, too. We’d kind of flirted with the idea of hooking up a few years ago, but we’d both quickly thought better of it because of our work situation. There was just too much potential for things to get weird at the gallery, and I didn’t regret that decision. Much.

We’d both moved on, and I was probably just being stupid about him right now because I was newly single and looking at everyone through self-pitying “Why is everyone dating except me?”-colored glasses. I mean it wasn’t like I was all that torn up about Chad leaving. We should’ve done this a long time ago. It was just upheaval and change and uncertainty, and I probably needed to have a few drinks, vent to someone, and reactivate my long-dormant Tinder profile.

Ooh, I could do that with Armin! Not the Tinder profile part, but the having a drink and venting part. We’d both been too busy to talk much lately, but we’d always been confidantes for each other. We’d done plenty of bitching about work, relationships, and whatever else was on our minds. He was good at giving advice, and he always seemed to know when I just needed to piss and moan, and when I needed someone to tell me to stop being a dumbass or a doormat, depending on the situation.

Maybe this trip wouldn’t be so bad after all.

And wasn’t he going to get us some info